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Thursday, March 16, 2017

Falling ringgit is why foreigners pay more for Penang properties

Due to the falling ringgit, foreigners have to fork out more money now to purchase landed properties in Penang.

State executive councillor in charge of housing, Jagdeep Singh Deo, said today the ceiling price for landed units that can be purchased by foreigners is now fixed at RM3 million.

This is a RM1 million increase from the previous ceiling price of RM2 million for landed properties on the island that foreigners can purchase.

Jagdeep said this decision was made by the state executive council (state exco) at its meeting yesterday.

“This decision was made to protect the interests of local residents,” he told a press conference in Komtar.

Jagdeep also announced that the state exco has rejected the proposal by the Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) to lower the ceiling price for apartments priced at RM1 million to RM800,000 on the island for foreigners.

In saying so, he dismissed the claims by several quarters that the state government offers discounts to foreigners to purchase properties in Penang.

“The RM1 million ceiling price for apartments for foreigners, which was also fixed by the federal government, remains,” Jagdeep said.

However, Rehda’s proposal to lower the approval fee, from three percent to 1.5 percent for foreigners buying apartments, has been okayed by the exco members.

“But approval fees for apartments that cost more than RM1.5 million remains at three percent,” he added.

Jagdeep said the state government would continue its efforts to provide affordable housing, priced between RM42,000 and RM300,000, for Penangites.

“So far, 65,796 units of affordable housing units have been and are being built in Penang since we took over in 2008,” he added.- Mkini